You're no monster: A Gaara one shot
by assassinkarena
Summary: When the only thing you can rely on is yourself, and you're a monster, what can you do?


You're no monster...

Gaara one-shot

By assassinkarena

Dedicated to: VampireDemonEmpress

Mia Ishida's long red hair flowed through the wind as she picked up a single leaf from the ground. The leaves danced down to the cold, earth floor, meaning; that fall was coming; her dark blue ANBU outfit fitting snug against her own slender body. The mask on the side of her hip painted with dark red streaks, the mask of a fox. Its devious, narrowed eye slits let only her see through them. The right side of her mask was colored with a black marking around it.

Her red hair fell over her shoulders and she pushed a strand behind her ear. Before she brought her hand back, she pulled out another strand and looked at the color. The color resembled blood. Maybe, that was why she was called the 'Bleeding Shinobi'. She didn't know why, people just, started to call her that about a year ago when she had came here to Konohagakure.

She quickly pulled out her katana that was strapped onto her back and turned and held it up. Bare flesh was about to be cut...

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the person yelled.

"Oh...Kakashi-san..." Mia said quietly realizing that it was only Kakashi, "Sorry if I startled you..."

Kakashi had a sweat drop on his forehead. "Startled...isn't the word for it!" He said shaking a little.

Mia carefully put her katana back on her back and turned, "Then I suggest that you don't stand behind me."

Kakashi shrugged and sighed, "Then I won't..."

Mia had this feeling that Kakashi still wanted something. He wouldn't just show up and start talking like some idiot.

"Kakashi, either you're going to tell me what you want or else I'll walk away..." Mia said calmly, her impassive face still not changing.

"Oh yeah...about that..." Kakashi started to say.

"Kakashi..." Mia said, tempted to just walk away, but, she knew that she couldn't. Even though how much she wanted to, she couldn't. She waited calmly as Kakashi tried to think of what he was going to say. Kakashi finally snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah," Kakashi started to say, and then he looked at her, "Tsunade-sama has given you a mission."

She turned back around and looked at him with a confused face, "Why did she tell you to tell me? Couldn't she have just sent me a bird...?"

Kakashi sighed again, "Mia-san, couldn't you at least try and respect her for what she does?"

"I'll do it when Orochimaru rules the world," she said as she started to walk off.

"Mia-san," Kakashi exclaimed as he tempted to grab her shoulder, but she turned and looked at him slightly.

"Kakashi-san, you should know that that could never happen. That's why I'm saying it." she said calmly.

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "You're right, Mia-san."

"I know..." Mia said as she disappeared with leaves dancing around her.

Mia carefully knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. Mia grimaced when she heard Tsunade's voice. Why did she take orders from this old hag? Seriously, she had better things to do, but, she was the Hokage, and, being a shinobi of this village she had to obey.

Mia slowly opened up the door, the door creaking a bit as she opened it. When she walked in, two people were standing in front of the desk. Shizune was behind the desk holding a little pig named Ton-ton. Tsunade was behind the desk, her hands folded and her head lying on top. Her face was serious as her eye brows were narrowed.

"Kakashi-san told you?" Tsunade said first.

Mia nodded slowly, looking from the two people in front of the desk back and forth.

"Well then, I'll get to the point. You have a mission to go to the Sand Village." Tsunade said.

"What do I need to do there?" Mia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We need you to watch what the Kazekage is doing there."

"What do you mean by watch?" Mia asked.

"He's young," Tsunade said, "Smart, powerful, dangerous. We just want someone to help him."

Mia started to protest. "What do you mean by help? I can't help someone as powerful as him! Besides, if he's so powerful, why can't he just help himself?"

Everything was quiet. Nobody said a word. Not until Tsunade finally broke the silence.

"Mia-san, if you haven't heard. Subaku no Gaara is the Kazekage."

Her head picked up, and eyes widened. She's heard of him. She's _defiantly_ heard of him.

"When did he become the Kazekage?" Mia asked.

"That doesn't matter. What matters, is that he is protected. We do not another dilemma to happen to our allied country. Not like what happened to the Third Kazekage..." Tsunade said.

Mia sighed, "I guess it can't be helped. I can get there within couple days."

Tsunade grimaced at her words, "Just because you're young, smart, strong, and an ANBU does not mean that you have to think _that_ highly of yourself!"

"I can think of myself whatever I feel like okay, you old hag!" Mia yelled.

Tsunade got an anime vein on her forehead. "YOU THINK I'M OLD!?!?" she yelled at the top of her lungs, rising from her chair.

Shizune and the other people were covering their faces, while Mia was still standing there with a bored expression on her face.

"Yeah, got a problem with that?" she said emotionlessly.

Tsunade's anger was still off the charts, but, she spoke as calmly as she could, her eyebrow twitching from the lack of her bottled anger at Mia.

"Anyways," she said through her clenched teeth, "You will be led by Temari...and your partner will be Neji...GOTIT?!?" she yelled, exploding on the last few words, blowing Mia's hair back.

Mia yawned slightly, "Yeah, yeah...Let's get going."

Mia, Neji, and Temari all walked out. Temari and Neji kind of scared by the walking human bomb that never dies.

Mia, Neji and Temari all walked towards the village gates. Mia was leading the way. The three of them all walked in total silence, until Temari finally broke it.

"Alright, I think that I'm going to have to lead the way from now on." Temari said as she stopped, putting a hand on her hip.

Mia and Neji both turned around.

"Why would you say that?" Mia asked, the bangs covering her right eye swaying slightly.

"I am from the Sunagakure after all...shouldn't I be the one to lead it?" Temari asked.

Mia sighed, "Whatever. Just make sure you don't get us lost. And, if you get too slow, I won't hesitate to pass you by. I want to get this over with."

Neji sighed.

Mia looked over at him, "Hey, Hyuuga! Got a problem with that?!"

Neji sighed and shook his head, "Just come on. We got a mission to do."

Temari nodded once and started to run.

That night the three of them had made a camp. The three of them had made excellent progress. They had made it to the desert. At the moment, there was a sandstorm. Temari had said that no one should go out in a sandstorm. That's how many people die in Suna. Mia had made a crater in a nearby hill made of rock.

Mia sighed again for what seemed like the millionth time. She wondered, what would have happened if _that_ didn't happen so long ago. Was it all her fault? She wondered, looking out into the sandstorm sitting at the entrance of the crater.

"Mia-sama..." Neji said quietly.

Mia did not look over, just replied with a blunt, "what?"

Neji came over and sat next to Mia. She barely looked over, but she knew that he was looking at her.

"Are you thinking about that?" Neji asked.

The question had caught Mia off guard, and she twitched a little.

"No! Who asked you!?" she snapped at him.

"Mia-sama...You know that I've known about your family..." Neji said. His voice soothing, knowing that he was trying to comfort her, she stood up abruptly.

"Listen, Neji. I don't need your pity! It's my past. My troubles are mine and I don't need someone like you to be in it!"

Neji was silent and looked away. His long, brown hair picking up slightly as the wind picked up. Mia's hair also swayed, her bangs uncovering both of her eyes.

"I can deal with physical pain, and emotional pain. I don't need anyone else to share it with..." Mia said as she walked away from him.

Neji stayed silent as he watched her walk away.

She scoffed and kicked at the dirt. She roughly sat down on the ground and laid back, folding her hands behind her head to give her a little bit of comfort. She glared angrily at the ceiling of the stone.

'What does he know about my life...he has no clue of what I've been through!' Mia thought.

She clenched her teeth and rolled over. Sand slithered its way into her clothes and scratched roughly at her skin. She placed one of her hands underneath her head and the other in front and curled up into a ball. She played with the sand beneath her with her finger tips. Making small designs, trying to make herself go to sleep. She would need it the next day. Maybe not, considering how slow Temari was leading them.

Mia sighed again and rolled over. What was she so worried about? Was it because she was thinking about _them_? She shouldn't. If she couldn't see, touch, smell, or even hear them she didn't have to worry right? Her parents were long gone. She didn't care didn't she? It's not like she ever did...Did she?

Mia closed her eyes and sighed again. Maybe, just...if she went to sleep, this would all go away. And she would be running to Suna like she was never thinking about _them_...

_Her laughter filled the air as she felt two warm hands in each of hers. Her bright smile made their day as they laughed along with her. Swinging her up and down, making the black and silver colored gown rippling like liquid silver. _

_"Higher! Higher!" Mia shouted as he parents swung her up again as they continued to walk. _

_Mia continued to laugh and she wondered if this moment could last forever, just her, with her parents, no-one else to bother their fun. Just them...forever..._

_As Mia and her parents 'swung' their way up to their household, her parent's brilliant smiled faded, their laughter had faded away as well. Mia was all alone laughing by herself. _

_She stopped at their sudden change in behavior. Of course, she had forgotten. Very important people were coming today. She had to act like a proper lady. She could not misbehave. _

_She quickly put on a noble face and walked along side with her parents. She stood up, poised, and walked along. She was a lady after all. She should only be seen, not heard. Just stand there and look pretty. Even though how much she despised the idea of doing so, she would do it for her parents. _

_As they approached, two people in front of the gates bowed their heads deeply. _

_"Their Highnesses," they both said in unison. _

_Mia's parents nodded and walked through the gates. There dark clothes mystifying, and eyes even more._

_As the three saw their household, they straightened out their clothes and slowly slid the door open. _

_Mia began to wonder, 'Why do we need to act like this in our house? It is __our__ house after all...only the people are coming over...' _

_"Now, now Mia-chan...Don't think like that." Mia's mother started to say, "It is out responsibility to show that we are of high manner, so we must act like it." _

_Mia's mother bent down to her level and looked her straight in the eyes, "Now, go get ready, make sure your hair looks proper as well as your clothes. We don't want anyone...going away because of us..." _

_"Of course," Mia said as she started to run down the hallway to her room. _

_Mia could never control her powers, so she always had to cover her right eye with her hair. She could never control the chakra that always wanted to go to it. It was never __**her**__ fault that so many people had actually died because of her... _

_Mia adjusted her hair so that her hair was covering her eye. Her 'special' one as her parents had called it. _

_"You're special..." Her parents had always said. _

_Maybe they were just saying it because they didn't want her to feel bad. She couldn't think of any good reason they would just say that. So, she just decided to stick with the 'not making her feel so bad excuse. _

_"MIA!!" her parents shouted. _

_Knowing that it was time, she quickly tightened the obi around her waist and stood up. She walked out of her room and closed it. This was another __**boring**__ moment. She didn't want to have to go through all of this political stuff. It was all so boring to her. She didn't feel like she had to be apart of it. If it wasn't about her, then why did she have to be in there? _

_As she walked into the room, her hands folded perfect, her face not the slightest amount of emotion on it. Man it was a killer to be a noble... _

_"Mia-chan...come here," her father said. Across from her parents, were three other people: a man, a woman, and she presumed to be their son. _

_Her father beckoned her to come and sit next to him. She came over and carefully sat down, making sure not to mess up her hair. Her dark red hair swayed with every step that she took, but, she made sure that that was as far as it was going to go. _

_"Mia-chan, I would like you to meet the Kanashimi family." Her father said as he ushered at them with her hand. _

_"How do you do?" the man across from them had said. He bowed slightly with a smile on his face. Mia returned the gesture and smiled slightly. _

_"It's a pleasure to meet you..." The woman said as she also bowed. _

_"You as well..." Mia said as she bowed again. _

_"This is out son Kanshin-kun..." The mother said as she gestured at the boy next to her. _

_"It is a pleasure." Mia said politely. _

_The boy did not say anything, but just bowed. He looked rather sick to her. His very pale skin and the black rings under his eyes made him look like he had insomnia. Very lightly on his skin she saw a thin layer of sweat. His dark eyes looked sad into hers. She wondered if he would rather be at home sleeping, doing something to make him look like...not that at least. _

_"Now, we shall talk about the arrangements?" Mia's father said as he laid out some papers in between them and the people in front of him. _

_"Yes we shall. But, I propose that my son and your daughter shall get to know each other a little before the marriage actually happens?" The mother said. _

_'MARRIAGE!?!?' she screamed in her head as she slowly looked at her parents. _

_"Well, I suppose that it couldn't hurt," Mia's mother said as she smiled gently at Mia, "Besides, I don't think that Mia-chan would like to listen to all of this 'boring' political stuff. Right, Mia-chan?" _

_Mia blushed slightly as she stood up. Kanshin did as well and they both exited the room. _

_"So...what's all this stuff about marriage arrangements?" Mia asked suddenly as the two of them swung back and forth on a couple of swings. _

_"I was always wondering why my parents were talking about that too. I guess that our parents are making an arrangement between the two of us," Kanshin, coughing slightly. _

_"What!? But, but I just met you!" Mia shouted as she stopped her swing. _

_"I know..." Kanshin said. "*Cough* I know that we just met, I don't understand it either. But, I suppose that it is not our choice to decide for ourselves."_

_Mia felt bad now. She felt like she had said the wrong thing. She wondered if he felt like she had just blurted out 'I don't want to marry you'. _

_"I'm sorry; it's not that I don't want to marry you...It's just..." Mia started to say but trailed off as Kanshin said, _

_"That I don't know you? Yeah, I feel that same way. Don't take it the wrong way though!" Kanshin said as he held up his hands. _

_"It's not that I don't want to marry you, personally. It's just that, I'm too young to marry anyone right now. I'm only six." Mia said as she looked away. "How old are you?" _

_"Eight. I don't feel like I'm ready to marry yet either." Kanshin said as he coughed again. _

_"Hey, Kanshin-kun, are you sick?" Mia asked as she looked at him. _

_"It's not surprising that you asked. But yes, I am." Kanshin said. "*Cough* I've been sick for a few years now. My parents don't know why though. They've been trying to cure it. But, I think that's why I'm supposed to get married at such a young age. So that I will have a wife and will know what it feels like to, *cough* I suppose..." Kanshin said._

_Mia felt ever worse now. His parents just wanted him to live his life to the fullest. Even if it meant that he had to ruin someone else's. _

_"Oh...I see..." Mia responded. _

_"It seems as though we have reached an agreement." Mia's father had said. _

_"Yes, it has been a pleasure working with you." Kanshin's father said as the two men shook hands._

_Mia and Kanshin walked in silently. They didn't know what was going to come, so they stood ready for anything. But who knows how much they would need. _

_"We have both agreed that the two of you will marry when Kanshin-kun ages to sixteen."_

_'Sixteen!?' Mia thought as her eyes widened. 'But I'll only be fourteen!' _

_Mia slowly looked over to Kanshin. The bags under his eyes seemed to be dropping with every passing second that he was standing. _

_"Surely we can come up with something else. You know, as in..." Kanshin started to say, his voice hoarse. He looked over at Mia at the corner of his eye, "Maybe, Mia-san will not have to not marry me." _

_Kanshin's father stood up in protest and anger. "Kanshin! What gave you that insane idea?!" _

_Kanshin stepped forward, putting his foot down. "I don't want Mia-san to have a horrible life! Me being sick, she would only have to care for me! She would not have a life of her own!" _

_Kanshin's father was about to say something, but, Kanshin started to have a coughing fit. _

_"Kanshin!" his father and mother yelled as they came over to his side. The mother laid a hand on her sons back and rubbed up and down. _

_"What's happening to him?" Mia asked as she stepped forward to help, but her parents held her back with just an arm in front of her. Mia fell silent as she watched as Kanshin put his hand over his mouth. Thick, red liquid started to pour out of his mouth as he coughed. _

_Everyone yelled, "Kanshin!!!" _

Mia woke up in a sweat, some of the sand still sticking to her head. She brought her hand up to her forehead to wipe of the sweat and sand, only to be replaced with more sweat and sand. Some sand got into her mouth and she grimaced at the sound of sand crunching in her mouth as she moved her tongue around. She spat at the taste of the sand and got up. She saw that Neji and Temari were sleeping soundly in random parts of the cave. Mia looked outside; there was no longer a sand storm, thank goodness. So she decided that she would go outside.

When she was outside, she quickly felt a gust of air on her skin. It felt so good to her, drying the sweat and cooling her down, slowly taking off particle by particle of sand of her face.

'I wonder why someone like him would be the Kazekage. I mean, he's so young...' Mia thought as she stared out at Suna. She could see the gates from here, she wondered if she could go there without Neji and Temari. She decided quickly, she'd go. She quickly went back in and wrote a note. She set it down by Neji, and quickly gathered her things and started sprinting towards Sunagakure.

She got into Sunagakure with no problem at all. She quickly showed her pass to the guards and they let her through. She walked through the streets. Some were shops, others were houses. She quickly spotted an inn and seriously thought that she had heard angels singing. A real bed...She started to walk rather fast to the inn, not caring if it was expensive or not. When she quickly got in there, people stared at her, because she had put her mask on.

The inn person that was behind the counter said, "May I help you?"

She sighed, "Why would I come in here if I didn't want a room?"

The inn keeper was a little taken back by her smart remark, but she didn't care. "Y-Yes..." He quickly fumbled with a key and handed it to her.

She snatched it from him and quickly made her way up the stairs, the stares did not falter.

The first thing she did when she got into her room she closed the door, stripped down and headed over to the bathroom. She turned on the hot water and stepped inside immediately, even though it was cold. It still cooled her down. But immediately she could feel the grim come off her and flow down into the drain.

A good hour passed before she had finally got out. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her chest. Her wet, red hair looked even darker now. She opened the door and smoke fogged out of the room, going into the bedroom. She noticed that her clothes weren't on the ground, the people must have came in and gone to wash it. She shrugged off the thought and dried herself thoroughly. When she was done, she heard a knock on her door. She went to answer it, only opening it a crack, for obvious reasons. The person behind the door didn't even have to say anything, for Mia snatched her clothes away and slammed the door.

She got dressed and laid down on the bed. Curling up into a ball, she pulled the covers around her and drifted off to sleep.

She didn't even realize that she had gone to sleep when she had woken up.

"Dammit! I slept in!" She yelled as she quickly threw the covers off herself and then ran to the door, grabbing her pack on the way.

She ran down the stairs and got some money from her pack, threw it on the table, not bothering for the change.

When she had reached the outside, she had almost tripped over a few little kids running through the streets, holding cardboard shuriken and throwing them at each other.

'Playing ninja...' Mia thought as she looked that way. She sighed; she never got to 'play' ninja. She always just had to _be_ one.

"Oi!" she heard someone yell from behind her. She slowly turned around, not really caring. It was a female's voice. A girl with short brown hair came running up to her.

She stopped, and put her hands on her knees, bending over to catch her breath. Mia just stared down at her.

"Is there anything that you need? If you don't, you're wasting both our time." Mia said as she crossed her arms.

"Hai...Are you Ishida Mia?" She asked.

Mia's head perked up, "Hai...why do you ask?"

"Kazekage-sama has wanted to see you for quite some time..." She said as she stood up.

Mia's head tilted to the side. "Alright..."

"Would you like me to show you to his office?" She asked.

"Hai, that would be nice." Mia said.

The girl started to walk towards a rather large building with the kanji symbol for "sand" on it.

About 20 minutes later they had arrived at the building. The girl stopped.

"Alright, I'm going to just have to tell you where his office is. I'm not allowed to go into there without permission. So, you will have to go on your own. Is that okay?" She said.

"Yes that's fine." Mia said quietly as she changed her gaze from the girl to the building. She wondered what the guy even looked like. How did he act like? How was she even supposed to help him if she didn't know what to help him with?

She started to walk towards the building.

"Oh, yeah, his office is on the top floor." The girl said.

"Wakkata..." Mia said as she started to run towards the building.

She quickly ran up the man flights of stairs, but when she finally got to the top floor, passing many people that gave her suspicious looks, she looked down the hall, because, there were many doors. But she looked at the last door on down the hall. Her intuition said that that was probably the door. She trusted it, and started to slowly walk down. She got to the door faster than she thought. She carefully placed her hand on the handle and slowly started to turn it. But it suddenly turned faster. Sand particles were floating around the handle. She narrowed her eyes brows at it. But, it finally opened, and she slowly started to push the door open.

"Come in." A male ordered from inside of the room.

She didn't know if she really should. His voice was stern, and he was demanding. But there was a softness in his voice. She took a deep breath, and walked in.

When she had entered and first laid her eyes on the male her heart skipped a beat. There was a male with red hair and cerulean blue eyes. Black rings circled around his eyes. The kanji symbol for love was on his forehead above his eyes, and he had a pale complexion. He was covered with a blue garb with a white long coat and scarf. He had handsome features and she could tell that he was very strong.

"Is there something that you need?" The male questioned.

Mia quickly got out of her dream state and quickly recovered, bowing on one knee to him she said, "Kazekage-sama, I have a mission to watch over you from our Lady Hokage."

"I had heard that that was going to happen..." The Kazekage sighed and closed his eyes. "Alright, I don't know what you can do, but you are welcome to watch me."

"Wakkata..." Mia said as she stood up.

"By the way..." The Kazekage started to say.

Mia looked up at him.

"My name is Gaara."

Mia lightly smiled, even though he couldn't see it. "My name is Mia."

Gaara smiled lightly as well, it was wiped away just as quickly as it came though.

Mia and Gaara both heard a knock on the door and Mia turned, Gaara looked behind Mia as the door opened. The people that had come in were Temari and Neji. Neji didn't look all that happy to see that she had left. But she had already done it; he couldn't go back and stop she.

"M-Mia-sama," Neji exclaimed when he saw her.

"Where did you go? We were worried about you!" Temari started to scold, "You scared us half to death you know! Do you know how mad N-"

"That's enough Temari." Gaara interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at him. Temari was especially surprised that he had stood up for her.

"G-Gaara..." She whispered, stuttering her words as she put her hand out.

"Temari go," Gaara said before that she could finish what she was going to say.

Temari looked down, hurt a little. "Hai..." She said quietly.

She walked out, Neji "hmphed" and left the room as well, following Temari out.

Mia watched them as they left. Mia didn't notice that Gaara had gotten up to get something. She turned and watched him. She noticed small grains of sand falling from his body. They were so small, that you could barely see them. But Mia's eyes allowed her too.

"Why do you have sand dripping from you?" Mia asked suddenly.

Gaara looked at her, a little surprised. "How did you know? How can you see?" He asked.

Mia looked away, "Never mind, just observing."

Gaara looked at her strictly and walked over to her, sliding out a kunai from his sleeve. Mia watched, her forehead creasing, prepared to attack if he attacked her. He raised the kunai to her eye level and she closed her eyes.

But when she opened them back up, she was surprised. Gaara had raised his hand and tried to stab himself. Sand was blocking the way and pushed it away.

"How can you..." Mia started to say, fascinated by the fact that the sand was protecting him.

"I don't do it. It does it by itself." He said.

Mia lifted her hand and touched his hand. It was warm to her and she smiled lightly. She took the kunai out of his hand. His expression was warm as well, slightly smiling, almost too small to even see if he was or not.

"I don't think that you should try to hurt yourself. This is just protecting you." Mia said as she brought her own up, taking off the long glove on her hand. She slipped it off and held it in the hand with the kunai in it. She glided the kunai over her palm and blood started to pour out. Gaara stiffened, and she could tell.

"Normal people can hurt themselves easily. And it's not the best thing..." She spoke gently to him.

Gaara started to get something, almost a little frantic. "I'll go get some-"

"No, don't." Mia said plainly. She closed her hand, clenching her fist.

"You're bleeding though." Gaara said as he took her clenched head in his.

"It doesn't matter..." Mia muttered. She opened her hand back up. And all that was there was a pink scar that would have taken a month or so to take up that stage. Blood was still dripping down. But it wasn't coming from her palm. It was just residue from when it was. Gaara gazed down at her hand and then back at her.

"How did it heal so fast?" He asked as he ran his fingers over her scar.

Mia was quiet. She didn't like talking about it. But, he was someone who was more powerful than her, so she had to answer.

"I'm a monster..." She whispered, almost not getting out her answer.

Gaara had heard faintly. His eyes saddened. "No your not..." He whispered back.

"How can you say that!? I have something so powerful in me that I can't even control her! She's so powerful..." Mia started to say, trembling a little bit. Her knees were shaking hard, and it was hard for her stand, but she managed, "That I can't even control her when she kills so many...She yearns for blood...and when she sees it...if it's not mine..." Mia whispered again, her voice starting to crack. She put her glove back on.

Gaara lifted her chin, making her look at him. "You're just like me..." He whispered.

She was quiet. But then tears started to brim her eyes, "But you probably don't have something so powerful inside you that people fear you! People don't run away when you hold out your hand and offer assistance!" Mia whispered. "People don't cower away, they trust you. They believe in you. They don't doubt all the time that your demon will unleash any second you could kill all of them within a second."

Gaara still looked down at her. He shook his head, his other hand coming up, touching her mask softly.

"People fear me, Mia. People cower away from me. People hide and run away and scream away from me when they find out that I have a demon inside me. I'm a monster." Gaara whispered. "_I'm_ a monster...I killed my own mother. I've killed so many people that I can't even tell you where I said I have stopped. I can't tell you how many lives I've taken with the one thing that I thought was filled with love."

Mia shook her head slightly in his grasp, "You're not the only one who has killed their own parents. I took my parents lives just by _looking _at them!" Mia felt something caress her cheek, and she realized that it was a tear.

Gaara brought his hand down and touched the tear that had come down past her mask to her neck. He lifted it up and showed it to her.

"Do _you_ fear me?" He whispered.

Mia shook her head. Why did he even ask something like that? "No...I fear myself."

Gaara brought his hand back up and slowly grasped the mask. He slowly brought it down and his breath caught in his throat. He dropped the mask down to the floor and caressed her cheek with his hand.

"Someone like you shouldn't fear themselves." Gaara whispered as he looked off somewhere else, trying to distract himself from her face.

"I should...I've learned to deal with it though..." Mia whispered back. She shook her head, remembering all of the horrible memories that had passed through her mind, everyday being tormented by so many people in her old village.

"I couldn't imagine someone like you being a monster. Myself, I can, but not you." Gaara whispered in her ear.

"I can't imagine you being a monster. I've seen what I've done. I've known what I've done to people. Knowing that they always blame me for when they all die." Mia paused, thinking, "People always asking for me not to kill them. But then...I always do it anyways, laughing at there begging..."

"Don't say those things. You know that you're not the actually cause for it." Gaara said as he grabbed both of her shoulders with his hands. He brought her back to look at her in the eyes, "You can't control your own powers. You can't control it and people just don't understand that..."

Mia sniffled and closed her eyes and bent her head down. "You're the same way...aren't you?" She asked.

Gaara nodded.

Mia turned her head the other way. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said these things. They probably..._antagonize_ you..."

Gaara shook his head, "Talking about it with someone helps doesn't it? It helps when you know that that other person is the same and they can understand you perfectly."

Mia opened her eyes and noticed that Gaara's face had moved closer.

"It helps...doesn't it?" Gaara whispered, his face only inches away.

Mia shook her head. Finding herself leaning towards the Kazekage. Her breath caught in her throat as their lips touched, sending a jolt of sensation through her whole body. She didn't understand it, but she knew that she had never done this with someone else before. This was totally new to her.

Her hands trembled, but they made their way to Gaara's chest, one snaking around his neck and the other holding him in place by his cheek.

Gaara on the other hand was completely calm by this. His lips moved sensually against hers and he knew that she loved it. Just the way that they molded together felt so perfect to her, and him. His hands had moved to the small of her back and pulled her closer. The other hand traced the side of her body.

She was enjoying this too much. She knew that. But for some reason, it was like she couldn't stop. The more she kissed him, the longer, she wanted to stay. If she wanted to leave this, then she knew that she would just come right back even more than what she was doing now. She felt small grains of sand on her body, and she noticed out of the corner of her eye, that sand was circling around them.

It all seemed to end too soon, because she had to break from the kiss to breath. It was a little sudden for her lungs because they took up so much. She didn't realize how long she had held her breath.

She couldn't believe that she had just done that. She gasped at herself for even thinking it. What would happen? She knew that she wasn't even supposed to touch the Kazekage. Let alone kiss him.

But, the feelings that she had put into it...She couldn't understand it. Maybe she wasn't supposed to. But she couldn't help the fact that she had enjoyed it so much. Why did he kiss back just as much as she had kissed him? She didn't understand why she didn't care though at the same time. She knew that she liked him, maybe even more than that. Even if he says that he's some monster. She knew that he wasn't deep down inside.

Gaara lifted her chin back up, interrupting her thoughts. He brought her head forward, lips almost about to touch hers again, feeling their breath between them mingling together.

Gaara faintly smiled against her lips. She could feel his lips on hers when he whispered to her.

"You're just like me..."

Mia nodded her head and kissed him again. Moving her lips in a way she didn't before, because this time, Gaara pressed back even harder. But when she felt a tongue move across her lower lips she gasped slightly, opening her mouth just the tiniest bit, allowing him access. She loved the feeling his tongue moved with hers. She loved the feeling that spread through her entire body when he touched her. She moved her tongue back against his. Wanting to know how it felt. And, when she started it, she wished she wouldn't have, because now, she didn't even know if she could stop. Her hands were no longer trembling as they snaked around his neck again and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. Gaara tilted his head more, allowing him to go deeper as well.

She whined slightly in her throat when he broke away from the kiss. But he only whispered to her once more before going back to her again.

"You're no monster..."

18


End file.
